Fraser McGowan
@drmcgowan.bsky.social
Historian • Postdoctoral Researcher • Ph.D. on the early history of the U.S. National Intelligence Council • Interests: intelligence, 19-20thC history & culture, film, theatre and football • Glasgow, UK • Here since Aug '24 🌅
One of the best works of non-fiction I've ever read. Dense with detail but the prose flows beautifully. A modern classic, all about the role John Gilbert Winant (US amassador), Edward R. Murrow (broadcaster) and Averell Harriman (industrialist) played in bringing the US into WW2.
💙📚 #Booksky
💙📚 #Booksky
October 6, 2025 at 1:19 PM
One of the best works of non-fiction I've ever read. Dense with detail but the prose flows beautifully. A modern classic, all about the role John Gilbert Winant (US amassador), Edward R. Murrow (broadcaster) and Averell Harriman (industrialist) played in bringing the US into WW2.
💙📚 #Booksky
💙📚 #Booksky
1978. More grimy hedonism, cruelty and violence, made more sardonic by switching first-person narration. The humour takes the edge off two troubled and troubling characters. All about how 'success', and its attendant power, is largely a matter of self-perception. (4/30)
💙📚 #Booksky #Reading #Amis
💙📚 #Booksky #Reading #Amis
August 18, 2025 at 10:30 AM
I've just finished reading this great book written by one of my @uofglasgow.bsky.social contemporaries, Dr. Craig Gill.
It's a thoughtful read that meets and then confounds expectations. Written with a love for the game of golf and a wish to tell some of its untold stories.
💙📚 #Booksky #History
It's a thoughtful read that meets and then confounds expectations. Written with a love for the game of golf and a wish to tell some of its untold stories.
💙📚 #Booksky #History
August 14, 2025 at 2:55 PM
I've just finished reading this great book written by one of my @uofglasgow.bsky.social contemporaries, Dr. Craig Gill.
It's a thoughtful read that meets and then confounds expectations. Written with a love for the game of golf and a wish to tell some of its untold stories.
💙📚 #Booksky #History
It's a thoughtful read that meets and then confounds expectations. Written with a love for the game of golf and a wish to tell some of its untold stories.
💙📚 #Booksky #History
The first tranche of onions from my garden. Eighteen of them. Not bad going. 🧅
#Gardening #GardeningSky
#Gardening #GardeningSky
August 12, 2025 at 12:01 PM
The first tranche of onions from my garden. Eighteen of them. Not bad going. 🧅
#Gardening #GardeningSky
#Gardening #GardeningSky
*1975. At first, this novel seems insubstantial. Full of glib stupidities, apocalyptic hedonism, and nonchalant cruelty. Amis's insecurities are palpable. A clever parody which asks 'why are we so afraid of meaningfulness? What are we hiding from, amidst all these extremes?'
#Booksky #Amis (3/30)
#Booksky #Amis (3/30)
August 11, 2025 at 2:11 PM
*1973. A parody of late male adolescence, all about artifice and self-fashioning. Charles Highway is callow, conceited and chauvinistic. He considers himself to be seasoned and sagacious; much of the humour comes from the fact that he is obviously neither of those things.
#Booksky #Amis (2/30)
#Booksky #Amis (2/30)
August 4, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Inspired by the excellent @mymartinamis.bsky.social podcast, I'm going to read or reread* (almost) every book by Martin Amis in order of publication. I'm ambivalent about Amis but have been rethinking him recently. I'll post my thoughts about each book here. (1/30)
#Booksky #Amis
📸© Angela Gorgas
#Booksky #Amis
📸© Angela Gorgas
August 4, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Inspired by the excellent @mymartinamis.bsky.social podcast, I'm going to read or reread* (almost) every book by Martin Amis in order of publication. I'm ambivalent about Amis but have been rethinking him recently. I'll post my thoughts about each book here. (1/30)
#Booksky #Amis
📸© Angela Gorgas
#Booksky #Amis
📸© Angela Gorgas
Good morning!
I'm just about to start reading No Name in the Street by James Baldwin.
I read all of Baldwin from start to finish last year to mark his centenary – all except for this one. Completing the set now. Timeless and timely writing.
💙📚 #BookSky #AmReading #MondayReads
I'm just about to start reading No Name in the Street by James Baldwin.
I read all of Baldwin from start to finish last year to mark his centenary – all except for this one. Completing the set now. Timeless and timely writing.
💙📚 #BookSky #AmReading #MondayReads
July 14, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Good morning!
I'm just about to start reading No Name in the Street by James Baldwin.
I read all of Baldwin from start to finish last year to mark his centenary – all except for this one. Completing the set now. Timeless and timely writing.
💙📚 #BookSky #AmReading #MondayReads
I'm just about to start reading No Name in the Street by James Baldwin.
I read all of Baldwin from start to finish last year to mark his centenary – all except for this one. Completing the set now. Timeless and timely writing.
💙📚 #BookSky #AmReading #MondayReads
Of course. Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor and Evenings and Weekends by Oisín McKenna both blew me away with their delicate beauty. Different types of characters, situations, and settings, but ultimately both about people who are thinking about what is possible in a present shaped by the past.
June 30, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Of course. Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor and Evenings and Weekends by Oisín McKenna both blew me away with their delicate beauty. Different types of characters, situations, and settings, but ultimately both about people who are thinking about what is possible in a present shaped by the past.
I've just started rereading Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell (first published in 1938).
Returning to an old favourite after a few weeks of reading some splendid contemporary fiction.
💙📚 #BookSky #AmReading
Returning to an old favourite after a few weeks of reading some splendid contemporary fiction.
💙📚 #BookSky #AmReading
June 30, 2025 at 3:28 PM
I've just started rereading Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell (first published in 1938).
Returning to an old favourite after a few weeks of reading some splendid contemporary fiction.
💙📚 #BookSky #AmReading
Returning to an old favourite after a few weeks of reading some splendid contemporary fiction.
💙📚 #BookSky #AmReading
Good morning!
Currently reading Evenings and Weekends by Oisin McKenna. It's funny, touching, and quirky. Feels like the sort of book that the author started without a detailed plan in mind, but it works well, imo.
#BookSky #CurrentlyReading 📚
Currently reading Evenings and Weekends by Oisin McKenna. It's funny, touching, and quirky. Feels like the sort of book that the author started without a detailed plan in mind, but it works well, imo.
#BookSky #CurrentlyReading 📚
June 23, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Good morning!
Currently reading Evenings and Weekends by Oisin McKenna. It's funny, touching, and quirky. Feels like the sort of book that the author started without a detailed plan in mind, but it works well, imo.
#BookSky #CurrentlyReading 📚
Currently reading Evenings and Weekends by Oisin McKenna. It's funny, touching, and quirky. Feels like the sort of book that the author started without a detailed plan in mind, but it works well, imo.
#BookSky #CurrentlyReading 📚
Morning! 👋
I started reading this last night. I intended to read a few pages before going to sleep, but instead, I nearly finished it. It's a beautifully written book. A minimalist prose style used to tell a deeply evocative story. Proof, to my mind, that less is often more. 📚
#BookSky
I started reading this last night. I intended to read a few pages before going to sleep, but instead, I nearly finished it. It's a beautifully written book. A minimalist prose style used to tell a deeply evocative story. Proof, to my mind, that less is often more. 📚
#BookSky
June 16, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Morning! 👋
I started reading this last night. I intended to read a few pages before going to sleep, but instead, I nearly finished it. It's a beautifully written book. A minimalist prose style used to tell a deeply evocative story. Proof, to my mind, that less is often more. 📚
#BookSky
I started reading this last night. I intended to read a few pages before going to sleep, but instead, I nearly finished it. It's a beautifully written book. A minimalist prose style used to tell a deeply evocative story. Proof, to my mind, that less is often more. 📚
#BookSky
Oh and, still chuckling that the hotel receptionist apologised to me because I had, supposidly, been allocated a room without a view.
June 4, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Oh and, still chuckling that the hotel receptionist apologised to me because I had, supposidly, been allocated a room without a view.
Obviously, because we were there for a Stag Do, there was a fair bit of this sort of thing, too (@connor-mcbain.bsky.social) – but even that felt pretty chilled and civilised in this varied city. We were only there for a few days, but we spent the time wisely, I'd say.
June 4, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Obviously, because we were there for a Stag Do, there was a fair bit of this sort of thing, too (@connor-mcbain.bsky.social) – but even that felt pretty chilled and civilised in this varied city. We were only there for a few days, but we spent the time wisely, I'd say.
Very tasty food that didn't break the bank, either.
June 4, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Very tasty food that didn't break the bank, either.
I was in Budapest for a Stag Do and a short holiday recently, and I was blown away by how much there was to see and do. Historic palaces, beautiful churches and synagogues, thoughtfully curated museums and galleries, and eerie underground caves with a rich history all of their own. A great city! 🇭🇺
June 4, 2025 at 1:29 PM
I was in Budapest for a Stag Do and a short holiday recently, and I was blown away by how much there was to see and do. Historic palaces, beautiful churches and synagogues, thoughtfully curated museums and galleries, and eerie underground caves with a rich history all of their own. A great city! 🇭🇺
Now we're talking! 🤤
I had chicken and pesto tagliatelle earlier, followed by apple pie. Does it still count if someone else made it for me and did all the dishes?
#FoodSky
I had chicken and pesto tagliatelle earlier, followed by apple pie. Does it still count if someone else made it for me and did all the dishes?
#FoodSky
June 2, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Now we're talking! 🤤
I had chicken and pesto tagliatelle earlier, followed by apple pie. Does it still count if someone else made it for me and did all the dishes?
#FoodSky
I had chicken and pesto tagliatelle earlier, followed by apple pie. Does it still count if someone else made it for me and did all the dishes?
#FoodSky
It's raining today in Glasgow, so, naturally, I'm at the @glasgowfilmtheatre.bsky.social.
Everyone else in the city must've had the same idea because cinema three is packed!
#FilmSky #MovieSky #Glasgow
Everyone else in the city must've had the same idea because cinema three is packed!
#FilmSky #MovieSky #Glasgow
April 26, 2025 at 12:28 PM
It's raining today in Glasgow, so, naturally, I'm at the @glasgowfilmtheatre.bsky.social.
Everyone else in the city must've had the same idea because cinema three is packed!
#FilmSky #MovieSky #Glasgow
Everyone else in the city must've had the same idea because cinema three is packed!
#FilmSky #MovieSky #Glasgow
It's a very pleasant day in the southside of Glasgow.
April 10, 2025 at 11:31 AM
It's a very pleasant day in the southside of Glasgow.
March 8, 2025 at 3:11 PM
A cheerful post here. I read this book recently and it led me to reflect that "when" deterrence fails, terms like "command and control", "de-escalation", "intrawar deterrence" and "national missile defense" are going to mean very little indeed. Everything hinges on deterrence – a state of mind.
February 18, 2025 at 5:18 PM
A cheerful post here. I read this book recently and it led me to reflect that "when" deterrence fails, terms like "command and control", "de-escalation", "intrawar deterrence" and "national missile defense" are going to mean very little indeed. Everything hinges on deterrence – a state of mind.
So, this was good. Intense, trippy, full of yearning. Liked it a lot.
February 7, 2025 at 9:47 AM
So, this was good. Intense, trippy, full of yearning. Liked it a lot.